중앙데일리

Flirting teachers spice their job with romance

June 07,2005

He knew pickup lines were a waste of time. So, the first time they met outside the workplace, he bluntly let it out.
“Let’s have sex,” he says.
Flabbergasted by the bold approach, but obviously enjoying the surprise attention from her younger superior at the office, she innocently asks, “Are you like this with all women?”
After an exaggerated sigh, he answers, “No, only with someone I really like.”
The audience chuckled throughout the preview of the film “Rules of Dating” as they watched the relationship between “Yurim” and “Hong” develop.
The movie is filled with flirting and conversations that seem just a little too “lewd” to be spoken by high school teachers.
Yurim, played by Park Hae-il, an actor better known for shy and romantic roles, stars this time as a bored teacher who also happens to be a womanizer. But he is a rather lame gigolo, which saves him in the eyes of the audience, which otherwise could accuse him of sexually harassing a female colleague.
“This character was supposed to be very sly, a bit kinky, but because Mr. Park played it, he made the character look too cute,” director Han Jae-rim said with a chuckle at last month’s media preview.
Yurim tells Hong, the new teacher in school, that she has chosen the wrong job, because teaching is just too boring. But he quickly adds, “Would you like to go out with me, though?”
Hong, played by Kang Hae-jung of the award-winning revenge tale “Old Boy,” is a disciplined college graduate who feels strangely attracted to her younger superior on the first day at her new job.
“You and I are like partners for the students, you know?” Yurim confides to her after a teachers’ dinner outing.
“I definitely agree,” Hong firmly nods.
“See, you and I, we need to talk more, to get to know each other because we are partners now,” he continues.
“That’s what I thought too,” she responds seriously.
“Great, how about you and I go out for a drink afterward, so we can know each other better?” He smiles triumphantly.
It might be a parents’ nightmare, but the two young teachers are having more fun flirting than they are teaching. While students are taking tests, they hold hands at the back of the classroom. While students are outside for physical education, they stay indoors for a quick romance.
But the movie is not just full of flirting. When the two think all will turn out for the best with a happy ending, problems occur. There are fights. There are tears and hateful words. After all, in reality the two have been cheating on their steady significant others and the school authorities are not happy to hear rumors that the two teachers are not doing their jobs or acting appropriately. “This is actually a very honest story about people in love,” Mr. Park told reporters.
He added that, while the story seems exaggerated, he believed it could evoke sympathy from the audience because it was about love.
“I think dating is a process for a man and a woman to find themselves in love as they share many experiences,” he said. “And the movie is simply about that process.”
“Rules of Dating” opens Friday.